The first time I ate lotus root is a colleague from Hubei brought, which is from the land of fish and rice, China's seventh largest freshwater lake - Honghu specialty. Forgive my ignorance if not the cross-section of those tiny holes, the appearance is really difficult to believe that this has something to do with the lotus root, eat up the time is quite delicious, crisp crisp crisp, but this thing is dead expensive, just listed to 30 yuan a catty it. As for the lotus root belt in the end is what? What is the relationship with lotus root? Listening to the colleague's popularization to understand.

The lotus root is a household name in Hubei, aquatic vegetables, eating its history, since ancient times, said to have thousands of years. Also known as lotus root vegetables, silver seedling vegetables, alias lotus root seedlings or lotus root intestines, lotus root scallops are a common seasonal dish on the spring and summer dinner tables in the Jianghan Plain region of Hubei.

See this slender aquatic vegetable body, many people think it is to support the lotus leaves of the section of the green stems, in fact, not, fresh lotus root is not yet grown into a "white fat" on the people from the mud out of the lotus root. In layman's terms, the lotus root belt is the unformed lotus root, is the young stem of the lotus root, by the rhizome at the top of an internode and the terminal buds composed of.

In the late fall and early winter, when the leaves and the rosettes wither, the old, mature lotus root begins to accumulate starch and becomes thicker, and eventually expands into a lotus root that stores nutrients for the winter. Until the end of spring and the beginning of summer, the root buds planted in the previous year will give rise to the slender lotus roots, which then take root at the bottom of the pond and are called the main root whips, and on which leaf buds and flower buds will sprout, and continue to grow out of the water, forming lotus leaves and lotus flowers, respectively. Lotus root grows very fast, but more than 10 days, it can grow to the way we see, this time to pick is the lotus root we eat, if continue to grow and become old and ripe, in the late fall and early winter to become thick and strong will become lotus root.

Freshly picked lotus root, extremely crisp, no matter which method is used need to keep it this crisp, so the common cooking method is to blanch and then cold or rapid fire quickly fried, it can keep its crisp, delicious.

Some local chef colleagues in Hubei, not only the lotus root as the main ingredient into the dish, but also as an ingredient into the dish, meat and vegetables, commonly used cooking methods such as frying, steaming, deep-frying, distillation and so on. In these cooking methods, my favorite is still stir-fried, or processed into pickles.

The stir-fry is cut into sections with a diagonal knife, slightly marinated in salt, cooked in oil and stir-fried, or add a little chili, stir-fry a few times can be made into a dish, and the finished product is crisp and free of gluten, and the aroma is strong. Do pickles when it is more delicious, make a hot and sour sauce in advance, soak into the processed lotus root, soak for a few hours into the flavor, the finished product of the fine holes in the hot and sour sauce, eat a section of sour, sweet, salty, spicy, fresh in the mouth and mouth will be filled with. The following share the operation method of soaking hot and sour lotus root strips.

●Soaking Hot and Sour Lotus Root Scallops

Preparation of ingredients and seasonings:

500 grams of Lotus Root Scallops, Soaking Millet Chili, White Vinegar, Purified Water, Sugar, Salt, Lemon Half, Ginger, Garlic Cloves and so on.

Start Preparation:

1. Buy fresh lotus root strips, wash the exterior with water, then control the water and cut into 3~4 cm long pieces. Immediately after cutting, it should be put into the water to avoid its oxidation and blackening, and this time it should be washed again until clean.

2. Take a stainless steel pot add water to boil, put the lotus root belt blanch for about 10 seconds, immediately fish out and put in cool water, water control for use.